


Happy Birthday Hathaway

by Aliawrites



Category: Lewis (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-12
Updated: 2012-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-20 23:09:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/590702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aliawrites/pseuds/Aliawrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A special delivery arrives at the Station for James. Birthday presents!<br/>(edited to fix a few small issues caused by writing it 2.5 hours after taking a sleeping pill)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy Birthday Hathaway

**Please note: I apologise for this. I have had an extremely crappy day yesterday and today is my birthday, so I wanted to give James a happy birthday! Also, all mistakes are due entirely to to the fact that I didn't edit this and I had taken a sleeping pill almost 3 hours before - which shouldn't be possible to be still awake and yet, I am.**

 

They were working quietly in their shared office, Robbie buried and getting ever grumpier by the moment as he struggled through budget profit and loss reports. Glaring across at his sergeant only deepened his sour mood though - how could that boy be smiling and listening to music on that infernal ipud or whatever it's called while he was supposed to be slogging through the bane of every sergeant's existence - monthly fitness reports on the twelve constables he was responsible for at the moment. The stupid performance measures were enough to drive Lewis up the wall and he only had to do one a month - and that one was easy - almost always top notch.

"What the bugger are you so ridiculously happy about over there?" Lewis demanded, loudly enough to be heard over the earbuds the sergeant wore to listen as he worked.

"Good music makes even the most tedious task easier to get done, sir."

"Aren't there rules about wearing headphones on duty?" he grumped, then immediately regretted it - him listening to his weird young people music in headphones was infinitely better than him playing it out loud in their small office like some would have!

"As long as it's not so loud I can't hear if I'm being called or if something happens. Something you need sir?" Hathaway smiled, clicking away on his computer as he spoke.

"How can you be so chipper about monthly performance measures - especially for that motley group out there? You're not being too hard on them are you? We don't want to lose all of them. Some maybe, but try not to low-rate them all completely out."

"They're actually all mostly quite good coppers," James said with a smile. "Nothing too harsh, sir, I promise."

"Sir?" the voice of Constable Julie McCrea asked from the door causing both to look up, not knowing who she was addressing. "Err, Sarge," she looked nervous, turning fully to face Hathaway. "There's someone for you at the front desk, claims to know you and has some packages for you from home."

Hathaway blinked for a moment trying to process that and getting more and more worried at who he feared it would be. "Uh... did he say who he was?" he asked nervously.

"She, sir, and she said she was Mary Crabb. She said you'd know her..."

Hathaway took a deep breath and slowly released it, but nodded and stood to follow her out.

"Anything to worry about?" Lewis asked the obviously uncomfortable sergeant.

"No sir," he said quickly, but the unhappy smile took away from his conviction.

As he walked through the station and out to the front desk where members of the public were prevented from entering the work areas of the police station, he was getting more and more nervous. James hoped against hope that Mary was here for the least embarrassing reason possible - just quickly drop off some papers he had to sign, everyone is ok and he doesn't have to do anything too difficult or go someplace to sign something.. What he was met with when he reached the public waiting room though stopped him in his tracks.

"James!" Mary cried and leapt up to engulf him in a bone-crushing hug. "Happy Birthday!"

"Uh, thanks Mary," James managed, trying to look around to make sure no one had heard her - no luck though, the desk constables and sergeant where all snickering.

"Listen, I can't stop, but your dad and Cloe wanted to make sure you get your birthday presents on time here! You're never at your flat and you're always here, so here I am!" She beckoned to the stack of boxes on the floor.

"Mary! How did you get all of that in here? How am I supposed to get it all home... Wait," he said, his eyes landing on a distinctively shaped wrapped package. "Is that a guitar?"

"I wouldn't know," Mary said with a wink. "But my darling I have to go, I have some documents to drop off at the bank before they close and some to drop off at the solicitor here in Oxford and pick up some more there to take back home for your dad... Here," she said, producing a folder filled with files all waiting for his signatures marked in several places by little flags.

"What am I signing away this time?" James asked with a smirk while he signed them all while leaning agains the counter.

"First born, your cuddly toys, promises to visit more... like that."

"You're just devious enough to do it too."

"Must dash, love," Mary said when he'd finished and stretching up on her tip-toes with James bending forward she could just reach to give him a kiss on each cheek. "Happy birthday Jamie." and with a quick hug, she dashed out and into the range rover waiting for her outside.

"What?!" James demanded when he turned back to see the desk constables smirking and staring. "Kev, OK to borrow these two for a minute?" he asked the desk sergeant.

"Right, you and you help me carry these boxes back to my office - quickly!" Responding to his annoyed tone while their own sergeant simply laughed at their discomfort, the two constables jumped quickly to obey.

"What's all this?" Robbie demanded as the three men entered, laden in packages.

"Thanks guys, that's all," Hathaway sent the uniforms scurrying back to their own area.

"This, sir, is a bunch of packages someone just dropped off for me. She brought them here because she quite rightly assumed that she'd be more likely to find me here than at my home."

"Girlfriend?" Robbie asked, his voice teasing.

"No, she's... uh, she sort of works for my step-father and had to be in town to drop and get papers in and out of solicitors and banks - some of which she needed me to sign as well.

"And she comes with gifts to thank you for signing papers?"

"Uh, no..." Hathaway was blushing and trying to hide behind his monitor.

"Oh my God! Ye daft sod! Is it your birthday? Why didn't you say anything??"

"I just prefer to keep a low profile about stuff like that, sir..."

"No way!," Robbie declared with authority. "Which one is this anyway?"

"31, sir" he said, cringing and focusing even harder on his monitor.

Frowning at his sergeant's downplaying of his birthday, Robbie decided to focus more on the gifts. "So you going to open any of these here?"

"No, that would probably be a bad idea..." James looked uncomfortable at the prospect but Robbie put it off as James' usual shy nature.

"What about this one?" Robbie asked, plucking a shoebox out and noting the tag as identifying it as being from his sister.

With a sigh, James looked uncomfortably at the door, the only windows into their office where the blinds were not closed. Taking pity, Robbie closed the door and the blind and with another sigh, James carefully opened the package. Inside was a small blue stuffed bear with a ribbon around its neck. James smiled at this and placed it gently on the bookcase behind him. Reaching in again, he smiled and pulled out a small framed picture and holding it up, Robbie could see that it was a picture of James looking very relaxed on a picnic blanket in a field with a young teenage girl leaning against him. James smiled warmly at the picture and Robbie could have kicked himself for asking the stupidest question he could have: "That your sister?"

"Yeah," James said with a chuckle. "That's Cloe... There's a note here, she's telling me I have to keep them both here to help keep me safe." He smiled for a moment, then pulling the final item out of the shoebox his expression turned to one of complete joy. It was a book - a specially bound leather book that was clearly filled with handwritten content. Flipping through, James smiled and gasped by turns. "It's a book of her poetry!" he exclaimed

Looking over to the not insignificant pile of presents sitting in the corner of the office, and knowing that owing to a day planned to be spent in the station, James had walked, so Robbie decided to give him a hand. "I'll drive you and this lot home later and if you don't have any plans tonight we'll pick up some Indian and beer and you can show me all your presents - and play your new guitar for a bit. How's that sound?

"It's not actually my birthday until Saturday, but I think they're going out of the country on Thursday, so they dropped stuff off earlier."

"I don't need much of an excuse to have Indian and beer either way," Robbie said, hoping the kid would take him up on it. No one should have to spend their birthday alone.

"Thanks, sir. I'd like that. How do you feel about madrigals played on acoustic guitar?"


End file.
